The Bronx Museum: Youth Arts Education

THE CHALLENGE

The Bronx is a 90 %+ BIPOC community in the nation’s poorest congressional district, where over 30% live in poverty, and The Bronx Museum is the only contemporary visual arts museum in the historically marginalized community. Many NYC schools fail to provide state-mandated arts education, and 42% of Black children and 30% of Hispanic children receive no arts education at all. Yet studies have shown that students engaged in arts learning have higher test scores and college-going rates, and lower drop-out rates. These circumstances highlight the critical need for The Bronx Museum’s free arts education programs for K-12 children and youth.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Bronx Museum’s free arts education programs foster K-12 children and youth in developing  a positive vision of themselves and their community through creative expression and celebrate their culture in novel ways. Family Programs foster intergenerational creative discussion and collaborative art making; Teen Programs ensure accessibility while teaching drawing, critical thinking, zine making, writing, editing, printmaking and curating; School Partnerships introduce K-12 to museum culture, and foster inquiry alongside art making projects based on exhibitions that may include drawing, painting, printmaking, mobile making, sculpture and more; Free Group Tours similarly engage K-12 public school students in hands-on workshops.

"I loved that I had the opportunity to have no limitations to express my art... I would have never thought a place where I could freely express myself with people who have the same interests as me could happen."

“My favorite part was visiting Nate Lewis’s art studio because it was my first time in a real artist’s studio.”

“I improved my confidence in my work since, in the beginning, I was scared to fully express myself.”

“I’ve learned that there is so much more to museums than what it seems…I feel that museums are a space for the community to get together.”

“Any opportunity for me to be in this building is a blessing.”